LemFi, an international payments platform, has launched a groundbreaking financial service, “Send Now, Pay Later” (SNPL), an innovative payment solution that merges credit and remittance to help immigrants send money home even when their cash flow is tight.
The new feature allows users to leverage their LemFi credit line to make international money transfers instantly and repay later, addressing one of the most common challenges faced by immigrants worldwide.
Every year, immigrants send nearly £150 billion to their families back home. However, many face a timing mismatch between urgent financial needs and their earning cycles, forcing them to delay critical transfers or resort to costly and unregulated credit options. Traditional remittance providers typically require upfront payment, leaving little room for flexibility.
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LemFi’s Send Now, Pay Later aims to close this gap by providing financial relief and flexibility for customers who are new to their host countries and may lack an established credit history.
According to Ridwan Olalere, LemFi’s Co-founder and CEO, the new service was inspired by the success of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) models across the globe.
Speaking on the launch of the feature, he said,
“The rise of Buy Now, Pay Later means people across the world can buy products and stagger the payments depending on their cash flow. However, this has never been possible before with remittance, despite it being such a core part of the immigrant financial experience. With Send Now, Pay Later, we’re integrating credit directly into the remittance experience, ensuring financial support is never delayed by cash flow timing.”
Behind this innovation is LemFi’s Ensemble AI model, an intelligent credit assessment engine that combines diverse data sources from national credit bureaus and open banking data to LemFi’s own remittance insights. The system dynamically adapts to each user, offering risk-adjusted credit limits and fair repayment plans that evolve alongside the customer’s financial journey.
How Send Now, Pay Later Works
1. Activate LemFi Credit: Eligible customers receive a personalized credit line ranging from £300 to £1,000, based on their credit assessment.
2. AI-powered Assessment: The Ensemble AI model reviews users’ financial data across multiple touchpoints including remittance history, international credit records, and alternative metrics to offer equitable credit access, especially for recent immigrants.
3. Credit Visibility: Customers begin with smaller credit limits, which grow as they build their UK credit profile and demonstrate repayment reliability.
4. Send Now, Pay Later: Users can instantly send money to over 30 LemFi-supported countries, using their available credit and repaying later through flexible plans.
It is understood that access to traditional banking and credit remains a persistent challenge for immigrants. In the UK alone, an estimated five million people are considered “credit invisible,” with immigrants disproportionately affected. Studies show that 90% of immigrants report increased difficulty in accessing credit, while 13% are excluded from banking services compared to just 3% of the general population.
LemFi’s Send Now, Pay Later directly tackles these systemic barriers by introducing a more inclusive and adaptive credit model that aligns with the unique financial realities of immigrant communities. Following its UK debut, the fintech plans to roll out the SNPL service to the United States, Canada, and Europe, expanding its mission to become the world’s most trusted financial services platform for immigrants.
LemFi’s launch of the SNPL service comes after The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), last month, approved its partnership with United Bank Limited (UBL) and other trusted and strategic partners to operate remittance services into Pakistan. Founded in 2021 by Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran, LemFi’s core mission is to break financial barriers and provide trusted, reliable access to comprehensive financial services for immigrant communities worldwide, empowering them to manage money seamlessly across borders.
This includes remittances, credit building, and multi-currency banking to support diaspora users in running businesses back home and achieving financial inclusion.
The company aims to become the financial services hub for immigrants globally, addressing persistent challenges like high remittance costs and limited credit access.